Violent Squat Eviction in St Petersburg: Three Activists Face 10 Years in Prison

By: The novel Q - February 5th, 2013  Filed under: News
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On 4th February, at around 10pm local time, riot police brutally evicted a group of anarchists, community activists and local history enthusiasts who had been occupying a disused railway station, Warsaw station, in St Petersburg, Russia.

Hearing that the site would soon be demolished to make way for a multi-storey housing complex, the activists had turned one of the last warehouses attached to the historic train station into a community centre, hosting concerts, poetry readings and a photo-exhibition of the history of the station.

[Read More]

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Budapest: Thirty housing rights activists arrested

By: krate - January 21st, 2013  Filed under: News
eyebuda

On the 19th January 2013, homeless activists and their allies squatted an empty building in the 7th district of Budapest. The squatters demanded the institutionalization of a right to housing and an extensive system of social housing instead of punitive measures and overcrowded shelters. The activists were arrested and now face misdemeanor charges because of disobeying police instructions.
[Read More]

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London: 491 Gallery Closes

By: krate - January 18th, 2013  Filed under: News
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On January 14th, 2013, the 491 Gallery closed its doors for the final time.

It is now in the possession of its new owners, who intend to demolish it and build a generic block of flats. Its sister building, Vertigo, will remain. The contents of the community garden are currently subject to a preservation order, and are being transferred to a new community garden on the other side of the railway bridge.

Our home may be gone, but the family we created will live forever. Thank you everyone for twelve incredible years. You made it what it was. [Read More]

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London (UK): Eviction resistance in Pimlico and Camden to kick off 2013

By: cardiff - January 9th, 2013  Filed under: News
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January 4th: Pimlico 

Well, well, well. 2013 arrived and with what style! The first week of the year kicked off with an EPIC 8 hour standoff between the forces of darkness and the resistance. A building owned by the crown estate, one of wealthiest property hoarders of the UK, was scheduled for eviction at 10.00am last Fri. However, as the property is awaiting planning permission (so it can be part-demolished and turned into – you guessed it! -Luxury flats!) the occupants saw no reason why they should be forced out onto the streets prematurely. A large group gathered in solidarity and there was a very fine display of resistance from all. Although the property was finally cleared, it took the forces of darkness pretty much the whole day to carry out their wrong doing. Several people were tweeting the action live as it happened; here are a few choice tweets/pics! Massive bigup’s to all those involved. [Read More]

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Greece: Villa Amalias re-squatted and re-evicted – biggest number of anarchists detained in 15 years

By: fawda - January 9th, 2013  Filed under: News
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At approximately 07:30 on January 9, dozens of people re-squatted Villa Amalias this morning, hanging a banner writing: “Squat for Ever – Villa Amalias”. Almost immediately, riot police that encircled the building threw tear gas inside. At approximately 09:20, the police’s special forces (EKAM) smashed the building’s windows and raided it anew, detaining 101 people who was inside.
Meanwhile – at approximately the same time – around 40 anarchists in solidarity occupied the HQ of DIMAR (Democratic Left Party),  which participates in the governmental coalition. Police raided this building as well, detaining the occupiers.

UPDATE, 04.00 am “We will do it again, as many times as it takes”: statement by the 93 arrested from inside the police HQ

UPDATE, 00.45 am It has just been confirmed that the charges for all 92 anarchists inside Villa Amalias have been raised to felonies (instead of misdemeanors) as they now include the so-called “hoodlum law” enhancement. All of today’s detainees will appear before a prosecutor in the afternoon – from 1pm and throughout the day. A solidarity gathering has been called at the Euelpidon courthouse from 1pm onward.

UPDATE, 19.45 pm Another three anarchists have been detained at the corner of Patision and Alexandras ave, bringing today’s total up to 152. [Read More]

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Algeria: Riot after a wave of evictions of squats in Oran leaves hundreds of families homeless

By: krate - January 8th, 2013  Filed under: News
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Yesterday morning in downtown Oran dozens of police vans, riot squads completed evictions of squats in several districts.

No less than eight abandoned buildings, located in the street Cavaignac, Saint-Pierre in the street or near Gandhi market of the Bastille, were targeted for eviction and the removal of squatters who had stayed there several weeks. The previous occupants of these buildings were relocated as part of the operation against precarious housing and old buildings, leaving behind empty spaces and access to condemned buildings.
[Read More]

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Athens (Greece): Villa Amalias, “We are, and we shall remain here”

By: fawda - December 21st, 2012  Filed under: Communique, News
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Statement released on Friday, December 21, 2012

Today, on December 20th, 2012, the police raided Villa Amalias. Under the pretext of a complaint for drug dealing, they searched the building in the presence of a district attorney. Their findings are ludicrous. Nevertheless, according to Dendias [translators' note: the minister of public order] these prove that Villa was an “epicentre for lawlessness” for 22 years and that the law, thanks to the “brave political will of [PM] Samaras” was finally restored.

What logical leap may brand empty beer bottles as “materials for the construction of molotovs?” Is it strange to have a large number of empty beer bottles in a place that hosts a concert [gig] space and a café? [Read More]

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Athens (Greece): Anarchist squat Villa Amalias raided by riot police today

By: cardiff - December 20th, 2012  Filed under: News
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via eagainst.com (texts in En | It | Tr | De | Fr):

Once again, the State is trying to terrorise by means of sudden raids against occupied self-organized spaces.

Villa Amalias squat is housed in the building of Heyden and Acharnon street for 22 years. Within the squat hundreds of political and cultural events have been held (concerts, theatrical performances, screenings etc), while the anti-commercial culture that opposes the culture of sale and profit, power and property has found its place. It is clear now, after so many daily attacks against the antiauthoritarian/anarchist movement, that the antisocial forces of economic and political authoritarianism aim at silencing the movement, at limiting the public discussion in the agenda that is determined solely by the mainstream media and the Nazis, at prohibiting self-organized actions that start from below and outside political parties.

According to info published on Athens Indymedia, 8 comrades from the occupation were detained, and a search is being conducted in the building by the forces of state repression. Already, 200 have gothered in solidarity at Acharnon Street opposite the occupation.

We express our solidarity to Villa Amalias and to the comrades who struggle in this free social space.

PS: We understand the joy of the faithful servants of the system of power, as we observe the far-right blogs, as well as the mainstream news sites joining forces, slandering and cheering for the “success” of the suppressive State. We promise that the delight of the enemies of society will not last forever. [Read More]

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Bristol (UK): Update on the Everything Is Not OK Cafe from the Cut the Crap crew

By: cardiff - December 17th, 2012  Filed under: News
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As you may be aware, our plans to host a temporary community cafe run on anarchist principles in Bristol this weekend, have been scarpered after Avon & Somerset Police decided to raid Everything Is Not OK Cafe on Friday morning; evicting the building and arresting the five occupiers.

Plans were afoot to host a temporary community cafe run on anarchist principles in Bristol this weekend. On Wednesday night a crew of people entered the unused Preview Bar on Fairfax Street near Broadmead and secured the premises: Everything Is Not OK Cafe was born!

They were shocked to discover a disused building ripe with potential. Thursday saw a flurry of work as people involved in the project began tidying up the space in order to open it up to the public on Friday for talks, discussions, films and art related to the current political climate.

When the owners of the property turned up they discovered that they were unable to enter the building. They called the Police who arrived, and after threatening to arrest people outside for not displaying a Section 6, told the owners that those inside where completely within their legal rights to occupy the building.

Security kept a constant presence outside the building. More Police turned up eventually but it was merely the local beat cop – PC Steven Bell – who was trying to play the “nice cop” routine, which we saw right through as always. He took particular exception to the banner hung outside which read: “Open to everybody (except cops).” [Read More]

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Egypt: Deadly clashes in Qorsaya

By: krate - November 22nd, 2012  Filed under: News
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Mainstream media reports:

At least four people are dead and more are suspected missing after the army attacked a group of protesters who had blocked roads in the latest development of a longstanding land dispute in Giza.

The clashes started on Sunday morning when protesters from the island of Qorsaya in the suburbs of Giza blocked the Bahr Al-Azam road, disrupting traffic. They burned tyres and the army responded by firing rubber bullets at them. “One of them got a bullet in his side and he died… this is what made the situation escalate,” said Dalia Mousa from the Egyptian Centre for Economic and Social Rights (ECESR), which has been following the clashes since early Sunday morning.
[Read More]

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Hambach Forest: Day 3 of Eviction

By: krate - November 15th, 2012  Filed under: News
hamfor

Today is the third day of the eviction at the Hambach Forest, which is occupied against the biggest climate killer in Europe, the Rhenish brown coal-mining district (Rheinisches Braunkohlerevier). After three days of eviction one activist is left, who’s inside a tunnel system under the ground. As this is the first tunnel blockade action Police don’t have a clue how to handle this. They ordered different technical teams, wich also didn’t have an idea.
[Read More]

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Notre-Dame-des-Landes (France): Yet Another Forest Eviction, 5th November 2012

By: fawda - November 7th, 2012  Filed under: News
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We live in the Rohanne Forest. Over the last two years the many people who lived and passed by here built seven high tree houses and a beautiful three storey collective house. On Thursday 19th October the police came with bulldozers and destroyed and removed the house.

Starting the next day, and with lots of motivated helpers, we built a new kitchen six metres up in the trees, and a new communal sleeping area a bit higher. On Tuesday 30th October and Wednesday 31st October they returned with bulldozers and cherry pickers to destroy the two newly finished cabins, plus all of the seven high tree houses. [Read More]

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